


Count With Me [DISCONTINUED]

by cressarose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), High School, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-10-23 16:24:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10722933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cressarose/pseuds/cressarose
Summary: Voltron High School AU: Keith Kogane would be one of the brightest kids in school...if he was able to keep his smart-aleck mouth shut. After an unfortunate incident, he's forced into Voltron High's afterschool student tutor program, and his first student is none other than Lance Mcclain, one of the most popular guys at school.[will include profanity, sexual, and possibly violent themes, though no planned smut currently]“Just do the fucking problem,” he groaned, and resisted the urge to slam his head on the desk. This was definitely not what he had signed up for. He could almost sense Pidge in spirit laughing behind him.“Do the fucking problem, please,” the other boy flipped his pencil neatly in the air before catching it. Keith had the sneaking suspicion that he had done it on purpose, just to show off, rather than it just being a habit.“I don’t say please for anyone,” he snapped back. Not entirely true. He would say please for Shiro, and once in a while, Pidge or Allura. Lance Mcclain really didn’t need to know that.“Not even when you want to have sex with someone?” Lance’s blue eyes were far too innocent, far too clear.Keith had not been expecting that.





	1. Chapter 1

          Keith Kogane did not want to be here.

          He usually didn’t want to be at the school at all, but that was beside the point.

          In the low commotion of the high school library, full of people reading and people pretending to know how to read, he entertained himself by imagining all the other things he could be doing, instead of wasting his time here.

          He could be riding his motorcycle with Shiro. They could’ve been racing down through the city streets, Keith obviously in the lead, of course. Shiro might claim later that he had cheated, but that was just because he was a sore loser.

          He could be playing CL with Pidge. The two of them would’ve found the crystal before the other team, Pidge’s mother might’ve brought them snacks. Mrs. Holt made the best cookies in the world.

          _Hell,_ he could even be playing with _Red._ The reddish-brown tabby Keith had decided to adopt a while ago didn’t exactly like him. Red didn’t come nuzzle him like Shiro’s cat, Night, did with Shiro, but he liked to think that they were starting to bond just a little bit. He had only been scratched twice this week.

          But _no_.

          He didn’t get to do any of that at all. Instead, his ass was stuck in this outdated place, which frankly smelled of feet, waiting for a student who probably wouldn’t even show up.

          Honestly, Keith couldn’t blame the kid if he didn’t show up.

          And as much as he hated to admit it, the main reason why he was there was sort of his own fault. Shiro had told him enough times to watch his temper. Still, it hadn’t been his fault that his teacher had made a mistake with the order of operations in the middle of the multi-step problem. Although, he had to admit, maybe he could’ve helped correct it in a less...

          “smart aleck way”, as the teacher had furiously claimed. Why was it that all his teachers were always so furious with him?

          Keith Kogane was not exactly what someone would call a “model student”. He skipped classes, forgot to turn in homework, or more likely, didn’t really care. And then this time’s most recent incident had occurred. It had been at least the twentieth-time Keith had gotten into either a physical or verbal fight with a teacher or another student at Voltron High. It probably should’ve been the last straw.

          The only problem was, Keith happened to be one of the top students at the school as well. No one really understood it, not even Keith himself. But even with missing assignments, skipped lectures, he was able to keep up pretty easily. Kicking him out would’ve just increased problems for the high school. So, the principal had a “better idea”.

          Keith would have to join the after-school tutors program.

          He had been asked before, of course, but had always immediately turned down. He didn’t think that he’d be very good at helping some poor kid who was struggling with the anatomy of a frog, or having trouble with grammar details. Shiro always told him he was too impatient and stubborn. Pidge just told him that he was a prick. Besides, he had better things to do.

          But now, he didn’t have a choice. If he didn’t do this, he really would be kicked out of school.

          It was not like Keith really cared about school, but Shiro did. And he owed at least that much to his older brother, the only person that had had his back for so long. The only person who would really care if he lived or died.

          _Very well played, principal._

          _One more minute,_ Keith told himself, fingers tapping impatiently on the worn book table in front of him, _one more minute, and if he doesn’t show up, you can leave._

          He glanced over at the clock.

          _Fifty-five more seconds..._

          Suddenly, there was a loud crash as someone threw open the double doors to the library.

          “Sorry!” the stranger yelped as he treaded over people’s feet. He nearly went tumbling from his messy rush. His half-closed backpack jumped up and down behind him, papers falling out of it and floating towards the floor.

          An anguished librarian gave him a deadly glare was the new arrival sprawled awkwardly into the chair in front of Keith. He dumped his backpack with a heavy thud on the table, and a couple of books started to slip out. The boy ran a hand through his brown hair, making it stick up more than it already had.

          “You’re Keith Kogane, right? Sorry I’m late,” in an instant, there was a sort of dazzling smile on his face, “But you know why, I’ve got certain priorities, after all.”

          He winked with bright, bottle-glass blue eyes at Keith.

          “No,” Keith found himself unaffected, his voice rather dry, “I don’t know why.”

          The other boy blinked for a moment, like Keith had suddenly slapped him out of nowhere. Keith didn’t really care. It wasn’t like he had never slapped anyone before. He, himself had gotten slapped before as well, by _multiple_ people.

          “Uh...I’m _Lance Mcclain?_ Voltron’s Color guard team _leader_? You know, the fancy flags and dashing smiles before every sports game? That’s why I was late, I had extra practice with the football game that was coming up.”

          “I don’t go to sports games,” his voice was still dry, “I don’t really participate in the whole ‘team spirit’ sort of thing, alright? Look, do you want help with anything? Or can both of us just forget this?”

          The boy, Lance, apparently, looked a little meek now.

          “Math?” he offered, “I need help with math.”

          Out of all the subjects that it could’ve been. Of course, it just had to be _math._

           Keith let out a long sigh. He would’ve rather attempted to bathe Red, a mistake that he had made before, than this current situation.

          “Let’s this over with, Mcclain.”

         

          Just as Keith had long ago predicted, he was shit at being a tutor.

          Or, as Pidge would’ve said, he was just a prick.

          Of course, Keith wasn’t going to keep all the credit just to himself. He might’ve had no clue how to teach someone something he already found so simple, but it wasn’t just entirely him.

          It seemed like Lance Mcclain wasn’t exactly the best at focusing.

          No matter what Keith tried, no matter how many times he gestured to the math books, the other boy always was able to pull them off-topic somehow.

          And the off-topic things Lance liked to talk about weren’t even interesting.

          Mostly, they just confused Keith immensely, and once in a while they made him want to cut off his own ears. Or throw himself out of a window, which ever was less painful would work. They were the most trivial, unnecessary conversations that Keith had ever been forced to sit through. They had wasted nearly an hour now, with Lance no closer to even starting to understand the concepts of the expressions.

          It made Keith sort of wonder how he had managed to survive high school for so long.

          “Look...” Keith struggled to keep his calm, “it really isn’t that difficult. X is the first variable, the one that the problem specifically wants you to find.”

          Lance suddenly looked deep in thought for a moment. Like he was really trying to understand. He started down at the numbers and variables, a slight crease forming between his eyebrows as he tapped his pencil lightly against his hand.

          Keith blinked at him for a moment, _maybe he was done messing around. Maybe he was actually going to start trying now. Maybe this would actually work._

          “What is it?” he offered, trying to sound a bit friendlier, “what is it here that you don’t understand? I’ll help.”

          “I think that I get the problem, actually,” Lance went on, not looking up from the pages, “the only thing that I don’t really understand is...”

          “What do you not really understand?”

          “What’s up with math and always having to find X or Y?” Lance burst out suddenly, stretching backwards, his shirt riding up slightly, “what about the other letters? Don’t you think that they deserve a bit of love as well? I mean, if you were the letter R or something, and were never used in a math problem, how would you feel?”

          “I...” Keith found that he was actually at a loss for words now. He had no idea what to feel.

          “I mean, just saying, right? Oh, well I guess you’d be letter K. I mean, your initials _are_ K.K.”

          “Just do the _fucking_ problem,” he groaned, and resisted the urge to slam his head on the desk. This was definitely not what he had signed up for. He could almost sense Pidge in spirit laughing behind him.

          “Do the fucking problem, _please_ ,” the other boy flipped his pencil neatly in the air before catching it. Keith had the sneaking suspicion that he had done it on purpose, just to show off, rather than it just being a habit.

          “I don’t say please for anyone,” he snapped back. Not entirely true. He would say please for Shiro, and once in a while, Pidge or Allura. Lance Mcclain really didn’t need to know that.

          “Not even when you want to have sex with someone?” Lance’s blue eyes were far too innocent, far too clear.

          Keith had not been expecting that.

          He cursed his own fairer complexion as he felt the blood rush up to his cheeks. He resisted the urge to start sputtering. He propped the math workbook they had been working in to hide his face. Keith was suddenly aware of how strangling his own, muffled voice sounded.

          “Okay, why are we talking about this? What does my love life have anything to do with algebraic equations or rules of functions? Let’s just get back to the topic.”

          “Wait a minute...” from behind the workbook, Keith could still hear the mocking edge that crept into Lance’s voice, “don’t tell me, you’re a...”

          “So, anyways,” Keith cut in sharply, wishing he had an actual knife right now, “as I said before, the methods about finding X...”

          “ _Holy shit_ ,” Lance went on, a little louder that Keith would’ve liked, “don’t tell me that you’re seriously a virgin? I thought that those were just people of legends.”

          “Would you look at the time,” Keith slammed the book shut, ignoring an irritated librarian nearby, “time sure flies when you’re learning, huh?”

          “We’ve still got half an hour- “

          Keith pulled his book bag over his shoulder, shoving his pencil bag back inside, “So just make sure you study these eight example problems alright? Oh, and do the five on the next page if you want extra practice, and we can go over them tomorrow. We’ll work more on it.”

          Like this boy would actually do anything someone told him. He was so...infuriating. He acted like he owned the world, and he could say or do anything he wanted. It was driving Keith crazy.

          “See you tomorrow, pure boy!” Lance called after him.

          “I am going to run you over with my bike,” Keith hissed, then darted out the door. He felt like he would explode his he stayed inside for any longer.

          The only reason why his heart was pounding was because of the ridiculous topic that Lance tried to bring up. That was why he found it difficult to find words. It made him uncomfortable, which was why it felt like he had been running for miles, instead of sitting in a rickety old chair.

          It was an automatic response of his body.

          That was all. He was almost positive of it, in fact, he thought that maybe he might’ve learned about it in biology class. He was pretty sure of it.

          It was no more than a reaction of his nervous system, something completely natural. It didn’t mean anything in emotional terms.

          _Right?_


	2. Chapter 2

           “He’s just so.. _.infuriating_ ,” Keith nearly growled, taking out more of his anger on his game controller, his fingers jamming at the buttons furiously.

          “You think everyone’s infuriating,” Pidge said next to him, an identical controller in her hands, her large eyes focused on the screen.

          The two of them were over at her house, lounging on the comfortable couch. Sounds of slicing swords and whooshes of wind seemed to ring throughout Keith’s ears. They had planned to maybe to something active, but that had sort of gone out the window.

          Besides, exercising their fingers and thumbs sort of counted. Mostly counted.

          “Okay, that’s not true,” he protested, making his avatar leap over a pile of rubble, “I do not think everyone’s infuriating. There are plenty of people who I don’t think are infuriating.”

          Next to his own character on the screen, Pidge’s avatar swept out a long, glistening sword, “Oops, my bad. Everyone thinks you’re infuriating.”

          There was a pause as the two of them focused on a giant monster looming up above them. Keith made his avatar dive out of the way of a giant fireball just as Pidge’s leapt onto the monstrous thing’s back. He hadn’t even been aware that doing that was possible in the game. Even if it wasn’t, rules never applied to a girl like Pidge. She would do what she wanted, and wouldn’t care what anyone else thought. It was one of the reasons why she was his best friend.

          “I mean,” Pidge’s character was stabbing furiously, “he didn’t really do anything super horrible, right? I mean, he must’ve been pretty stupid if he’s got you worked up like this, but he didn’t really do anything, yeah?”

          “He _just talks._ Off topic. _Just on and on_. It’s like he’s _physically incapable_ of shutting his mouth for more than one second.”

          “What did he even say?”

          _Not even when you want to have sex with someone?_

          His hands slipped for a moment. The monster swept its giant claw with the force of a tornado, a burst of sparks at his avatar’s head. He was knocked aside in a moment, dead.

          A neon ‘game over’ sign flashed above the beast. It beat its chest with two fists like a gorilla. Pidge’s still-living avatar slid down to Keith’s dead one sadly.

          “Aw, _damn it_ ,” Pidge didn’t sound too angry, “and that was the final boss before the legendary crystal, too. We’ll have to start again from the beginning of the course when we try again.”

          “Sorry,” Keith muttered as she turned off the game. He set the game controller aside.

          “We’ll kick its ass later,” Pidge dropped her own controller, none-too-lightly, onto the little coffee table covered with paper. Most of them had paperclips slipping off of them, scribbling, messy writing all over them.

          Mr. Holt, Pidge’s dad, was a scientist. He wasn’t exactly the most down-to-Earth, sort of guy, and left a lot of his work notes lying around. He was the sort of guy who forgot his glasses were pushed up in his hair. Neither Pidge or Keith really minded, though. Mr. Holt always had the most interesting theories about extraterrestrial life and other galaxies.

          He was at work right now, along with Pidge’s mother. Her mother was pretty much the only person who could call Pidge by her real name, Katie, without getting a punch to the face. Her older brother, Matt, was at college classes, probably with Keith’s own older brother. This meant that the two of them had the Holts’ house alone for most of the day. Most of the day to play CL, that was. It was a great way to bond with your best friend.

          Keith had known the Holts’ for so long now that he was almost as comfortable with them as he was with his brother, but sometimes it was nice to have less people around. Too many words and bodies swarming around him just made him nervous.

          Pidge pulled one of the pillows of the couch to her chest, hugging it as if it was her precious child.

          “It’s obvious that you’re pretty distracted, if you can’t concentrate on CL,” a teasing smirk played across her face, “do you want to rant about your new student? What was the guy’s name again?”

          “I don’t know,” Keith huffed, “Liam, Lawrence, or something?”

 _Liar_ , his own head mocked him, _you remember Lance’s name just fine._

          “Well, besides the usual stupidity of anyone who isn’t Shiro or you,” Pidge went on, “what did he do that was so bad?”

          Keith turned away. Lance’s words just seemed echo over and over in his head. He wished that it would just leave him alone. _Why was it that he couldn’t stop turning the words over in his head?_

          “Your face is sort of red,” Pidge brought up.

          “Is not.”

          “Is too.”

         “Is. _Not_.”

         “You look like a tomato. And not exactly a healthy one.”

          Keith sighed, and hugged another one of the couch pillows to him. He could kind of get why Pidge did it. It felt nice to have something soft and plushy in his arms.

          “He asked me...he asked me if I’d ever had sex.”

           Pidge blinked at him for a moment.

          “You mean he asked you for sex?!”

           “ _Lower your voice!_ ” Keith nearly hissed, although they were alone in the house, “and no, he did _not_ ask me for sex! I said something about how I don’t say please, and he went, ‘not even for sex?’”

          Pidge considered it quietly for a moment, pushing her round glasses up the bridge of her nose. She was always doing that. The frame was an old hand-me-down from Matt, and it didn’t exactly seem to fit her small, sharp face. It slipped a lot. She had a very thoughtful look on her face.

         “I usually don’t jump to conclusions,” she went on, glancing up at Keith, “but I’d say that it’s pretty clear.”

         “What’s pretty clear?” Keith demanded.

         “The dude, whatever his name is, likes you.”

         “What?” Keith tried to keep his tone casual, and not as bewildered as he really felt, “no way. I think you’ve been staring at computer screens for too long.”

         “Someone who just wants to be your friend isn’t going to start asking you about your love, or your sex life- “

         “That sounds exactly like something you would do, Pidge.”

        “-and besides,” she continued on as if he hadn’t spoken, “it’s pretty damn obvious that you like him.”

        He choked on his on spit.

       “...me?” he finally managed to say, “ _me?_ Like someone like _him?_ No. _Definitely_ not. Like, never in a million years. If he was the last person in the world, no, the fucking galaxy, I still wouldn’t think about it.”

       Pidge was giving him her ‘you’re such a fucking idiot’ look.

       Keith was saved from replying to the look by the sound of a key turning at the front door. He turned towards it a little too quickly. He could still feel Pidge’s ‘fucking idiot’ look digging into his back like lasers.

       Matt Holt, Pidge’s older brother, and Shiro’s classmate, walked in. It was obvious that he and Pidge were siblings. Both of them had the same, unruly light-brown hair that seemed to defy gravity, and bright, mischievous eyes behind circular, thick glasses. The Holt siblings were both very slight for their age, Keith knew that he pretty much towered over Pidge. There had been a couple of times when people had mistaken them for fraternal twins.

      “Shiro’s waiting in the car,” he told them in a way of greeting. Keith had let himself into the house so often now that no one in the family was ever really fazed to see him around at random times.

      “Huh? Why?” Pidge blinked, the topic of Keith’s love life now fortunately forgotten.

      “We’ll explain on the way there,” Matt dumped his stuffed backpack onto the ground, kicking it aside, “did you feed Forrest yet?”

      “Of course, I did,” Pidge almost sounded insulted, it was known to all how well she took care of the Holt family cat, “she’s sleeping in the backyard with a full stomach.”

      Forrest slept a lot, actually, maybe even more than other normal cats slept. Keith didn’t blame the Ocicat, though. With Rover, the new, recently adopted puppy running around everywhere, he would want to get some rest whenever he had the chance, too. Luckily for Forrest, right now, Rover was currently a bit preoccupied with a new squeaky toy in another room.

     “Good,” Matt was already turning to head back out the door, “come on then.”

     “What if we don’t want to go?” Pidge crossed her arms. Defiance seemed like a reflex for her.

      He looked back over his shoulder at the two of them on the couch, and there was a sort of dark glint in his eyes. Keith had seen the exact same glint in Pidge’s eyes before, and it always made him sort of nervous.

     “It would be a shame, dear sister, if you found that your CL account was hacked tomorrow.”

     Pidge actually let out a soft gasp.

    “You, you wouldn’t dare.”

    The smile spreading on Matt’s face said that he did dare. Everyone knew that he wasn’t bluffing, either. Matt Holt was capable of many, many things.

     “Imagine, all the precious crystals and armor that you had gathered over all these years,” he went on, in an almost sing-song voice, “just suddenly, completely gone. Lost forever to the merciless stream of code...”

     “Alright, alright!” Pidge nearly jumped off the couch, “just...just give me a sec to grab a jacket. One that Rover hasn’t chewed holes through yet. Why is it that he always chews through my stuff? I bet dad’s shoes tastes better than mine ever will.”

     “It’s karma, little sis!” her older brother called after her as she pulled herself to her room. The silence that followed meant Pidge had quietly sent him an unflattering gesture over her back. Matt grinned, crossing his arms. Keith felt the corners of his own mouth twitch slightly. He knew that he didn’t smile very often, but these people seemed to bring out the best in him. They made some of the weight that always seemed to be on his shoulders disappear, even if it was just temporarily, just for a short moment. He was thankful for it.

     Matt blinked, then looked over at Keith, as if he had just remembered that he was there.

    “Oh yeah, you have to go as well. I told you that Shiro was waiting in the car.”

    “ _Me?_ Why do I have to go?” Keith was startled, “you’re not going to hack into my CL account too, right? Look, man, I just got my Cassiopeia badge, I’ve been hounding after that thing for months now.”

    “Yeah, you have to go,” Matt smiled at him a bit too innocently, “do you want me to get Shiro and drag you with us?”

    “I’ll drag him myself if he doesn’t go,” it seemed as if Pidge had successfully found her intact, green jacket, “there’s no way you’re letting me go alone to...whatever hell hole we’re being thrown into.”

     The two of them trailed behind Matt as he headed out the door. Matt let out a short laugh.

     “You sound as if we’re going to offer you as human sacrifices.”

    “That’s not what’s going on, is it?” Keith asked suspiciously.

     “No, well, not tonight, anyways,” the older boy’s tone was light, like he didn’t have a care in the world, “there’s something else that’s going on tonight.”

     “And what might that be?” Pidge was already getting irritated, probably from having to leave the house. The only times she really seemed to leave the place was for school, or if she had to walk Rover. Keith could imagine when they were older and lived alone, he probably would have to go over every day to bring her food.

     “You guys, lucky people, have been invited to a college party.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and do once a week updates, thank you everyone for the kudos!


	3. Chapter 3

“Since when were we cool enough to go to a _college party?”_ Pidge was the one who brought up what Keith had been thinking to himself.

“The two of you really need a self-confidence boost,” Shiro said from the driver’s seat.

“You and Matt are the ones who are always telling us we’re lame,” Keith added in dryly.

“All in friendly, sibling bonding,” Shiro replied without missing a beat.

“Seriously though,” Pidge went on, “what’s so great about this party?”

“Garrison University has an annual, very special party known as the Recruitment Party,” Matt’s voice took on that matter-of-fact tone it always did, “students there, like Shiro and myself, are each allowed to bring one to two high school students as our guests to the party. It’s a good way to maybe show younger students that Garrison University might be the choice for them after high school.”

“So, the two of you are just forcing us to go to this ‘Recruitment Party’ in a helpful, encouraging spirit?” Keith crossed his arms.

“I just think it might be nice to help you think about your options after high school, Garrison Uni is a pretty decent place to figure out what you want to do,” Shiro spoke up again. Keith saw his older brother glance back at him through the rearview mirror, his eyes kind.

College, University, school in general, had always been a bit of a touchy subject in between Keith and Shiro. Some of the worst fights the two of them had were because of it.

Keith didn’t really know what he wanted to do, he figured that after high school he would go to work immediately, instead of getting his degree. He needed to help Shiro with expenses...especially since their parents weren’t around anymore. Besides, studying and classes always had seemed just a bit trivial to Keith. A waste of his time. His high school experience had been enough to prove that to him.

Shiro wouldn’t have any of it. He seemed to turn deaf whenever Keith mentioned not going to college, to save the money. Keith wasn’t stupid. He knew that there really was not enough money for him, and there was a low chance of him getting any sort of scholarship at all. He just wished that...Shiro wouldn’t try to be so selfless all the time. His older brother already tired himself out every day with balancing studies and three jobs.

Keith wanted to be able to help him.

Just from the mention of what Keith was going to do after high school stiffened up the entire atmosphere in the car. It was like a thick cloud of smoke had just seeped in through the windows, lingering in the air. Pidge and Matt knew the Koganes well enough to know how talk of this subject went down.

Keith could sense Shiro looking at him through the mirror for the rest of the ride, but he couldn’t meet his brother’s eyes.

Shiro had already done so much for him, given up so much for him, _why was it that he never let Keith give him anything back?_

 

By the time the four of them had arrived, it was obvious that the party was already in full swing.

Apparently, this year, it was being held at a sorority house.

Even from the distance, Keith could see flashing, different colored neon lights through the huge windows of the house. They seemed to stand out even more, now that the sun was starting to sink away. The highest edges of the sky were already starting to turn to mixes of indigo and blue. Keith wanted to go home already.

When they got closer, out on the front lawn, empty and not-so-empty red cups had been strewn across the grass. Pidge tugged on his arm and silently pointed out a small pile of vomit at the side walk. Both of them judged it distastefully for a moment. Best friends who judge together, stay together.

Someone had already toilet-papered a couple of trees nearby, and the long white tails from the branches blew back and forth gently in the wind. Keith brushed some aside as if they were spider webs dangling in front of his face. He cast Shiro a silent look.

 _The party to show high school students that Garrison Uni might be a good choice for them_.

Shiro pretended not to see the look.

“Hey, Keith?” Pidge stuck close to him as they walked through the door. Pidge’s shoulder barely reached the bottom of his chin, it was sometimes hard for him to remember how much smaller she was than him, in terms of size. Even when she was so close, the loud symphony of laughter, shouting, and music made it hard for him to hear her.

“Yeah?”

“I think I just remembered why I don’t like parties.”

“Same,” was all Keith needed to reply.

Pidge didn’t say anything else, but Keith felt her move next to him. She slid her pinkie finger around his, latching to it. It was something that Mrs. Holt had told them to do as little kids, so that they wouldn’t get separated from each other in big crowds. So, that they would always be by each other’s sides.

He hooked his little finger around hers a bit more tightly. _They would be fine_.

“Come on, you two,” Matt was pretty much yelling at them now, “you’re going to get lost from us.”

“More like _you’re_ going to get lost from _us_ ,” Pidge shot back, but the two of them squeezed past some people a bit faster. Keith felt a couple of dirty looks on him when his elbow accidentally bumped into people.

Shiro had stopped to talk to another student, and it seemed like he was trying to make elaborate hand gestures over the booming music.

“A-LLU-RA!” he shouted, his hand movements getting a bit wilder, and he nearly smacked a couple of dancers, “WHERE’S ALLURA?! A-LLU-RA!!”

The other boy seemed to finally get it, and waved in a sort of ‘whoa, no need to shout’ sort of way. He pointed lazily over to somewhere near the top of a set of stairs with colorful streamers hanging off of them.

Shiro and Matt both nodded in thanks, then headed towards the stairs. There was nothing Keith or Pidge could really do but follow them, their fingers still holding onto each other.

Halfway to the stairs, Matt stopped to talk to a couple of his friends. All of them were thin and gangly, a couple with drooping glasses. They must’ve been who Pidge always called “his other nerdy friends.” He waved for the three of them to keep on going without him. Even as they left, Keith could only catch hints of the robot debate all of them were having.

 _See? Nerd friends_ , was the look that Pidge sent him.

When the remaining three of them trudged up to the top of the stairs, Keith saw a familiar slim, dark-skinned girl with pale hair. He knew that she had been recently dating Shiro, and she came over to the house every once in a while. She was always nice to him, and got when he didn’t really feel like talking a lot. Keith liked her a lot more than some of the other girlfriends that Shiro had in the past.

She was in a black dress tonight, a dress that might’ve looked ridiculous on anyone else, but just perfect on her. Allura had a way of making anything she wore look perfectly classy. A pair of geometric, golden earrings winked out at Keith whenever she moved her head or tossed her hair. He could faintly remember Shiro buying the pair a while ago, although he had tried to hide them from Keith.

She was dancing to the music, laughing and talking with another figure.

Keith felt shock ripple through his body for a moment. It was like someone had suddenly dumped him into a bucket of pure ice water. It was a _horribly, horribly_ familiar figure. A boy, around his age, with tanned skin and eyes as blue as perfect skies.

Well, _fuck._

Shiro was yelling over the music once again to make himself heard.

“Keith! Pidge!” he waved an arm towards the girl, “you two know Allura! We’ve been dating for a while! Who’s your guest, Allura?!”

“I’ve got two guests! My little cousin and his best friend!” Allura tossed some of her pale hair, and Keith could hear the faintest trace of an accent in her voice, “Hunk! Lance! Lance say hello to my friends!”

The other boy had started to dance with someone else nearby when Allura had been talking to them. Now, he turned back over to them, his smile almost seemed to glitter in the darkness. His eyes were as blue as they always were, shining brightly.

“Hello- “he broke off suddenly, his eyes widening at Keith. He stopped dancing, and Keith wished that he could just disappear. He was suddenly very tempted to hide behind Shiro’s bulk, like he had done a lot when he had been much younger.

“No WAY!” Keith wished Lance would lower his voice, so that he couldn’t hear him, “KEITH?! DUDE!”

Everyone else turned back towards him. Even next to him, Keith could sense Pidge’s wide eyes looking up at him. He couldn’t meet her stare. He could feel himself start to sweat a little.

He had _known_ that coming to this party would be a bad idea.

 _Damn it_.

“You two...know each other?” Allura finally spoke up. She put her hands on her hips, almost in a motherly sort of way.

“Yeah, duh!” Lance tugged hard on the sleeve of the other guy he had been dancing with before, “Hunk! Hunk, it’s my tutor I was talking to you about!”

Keith could feel everyone’s eyes on him. He was suddenly reminded of just how much he hated attention on him.

“Hi...Lance,” he finally forced out, since Shiro seemed to be waiting for him.

“Huh? Oh,” Hunk, a boy with an orange headband tied across his head blinked slightly at Keith. He lifted his hand in a tentative wave. He looked like an easy-going sort of guy, like someone who didn’t really understand what stress was. Maybe Keith could’ve been friends with him.

“Crazy seeing you here!” Lance did not sense the awkward tension in the air at all, “but it’s cool, right?! Who’s the little guy?!”

“I...am a girl,” Pidge nearly growled. She had cut her hair short a while ago, and had gotten misgendered more than once. Keith was suddenly very tempted to punch Lance in the face.

“Oh,” Lance paused for a moment, like he was trying to figure out something to say. He just sort of slowly closed his mouth. Hunk punched the other boy hard in the shoulder, then sent an apologetic smile over at Keith and Pidge. Keith thought that he had a rather nice sort of smile.

“Well, since you all know each other,” Allura was already grabbing Shiro’s hand, “then we’ll leave you here together. Call our cells if you need anything.”

 _No, no_ , Keith desperately tried to catch his older brother’s eyes, _please don’t leave me with him. Anyone but him_.

But Shiro just smiled stupidly at him over his shoulder as Allura pulled him away. Keith could almost see the disgusting little hearts in his eyes. It was no use.In a couple of moments, Allura and Shiro were gone. They probably were off to make out in a closet or something. Keith cursed both of them inside his head.

The four of them just looked at each other for a moment, like Allura and Shiro had taken their voices with them when they had left. The air suddenly felt stifling around them. Keith felt like it was going to smother him.

So, Keith did the only reasonable thing that everyone was supposed to do when they were suddenly hurled into uncomfortable situations.

“I’ve...I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” he said, unlatching his hand from Pidge.

Then, he ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you can tell, I have given up on indenting.


	4. Chapter 4

Keith was actually able to find the bathroom in the giant sorority house.

          He had first thought that it was occupied, but moments after he arrived, a giggling girl and boy with messy hair tumbled out. The girl was stumbling hard, leaning against the other college student for support. The boy had a couple of playing cards stuck to his shirt, which Keith really could not understand.

          He just slipped past them, gently closing the bathroom door behind him. He didn’t bother to lock the door. Keith really didn’t need to go the bathroom, and he was pretty sure that someone would see the light coming from under the closed door.

Instantly, the loud swirls of commotion from outside were muffled, so that they were nothing more than background noise. 

          He hadn’t even realized that he had been holding in his breath until he let it out, almost like a gasp. Now that he was alone, he felt some of the tension he hadn’t even realized had been there leave his body. His cell phone let out a soft chirp, no doubt a text from Shiro or Pidge. He ignored it, rubbing at his neck. He needed some time.

          _Breathe,_ he told himself, sucking in more air, like he had been drowning moments before, _just breathe_. Keith could finally hear himself think a bit. Not for the first time, he wished that he could be more like Shiro. His older brother seemed to be capable of being comfortable and collected, no matter how rowdy or crazy situations got.

Meanwhile, too much noise made Keith feel like he was surrounded. The sound of his own breathing was louder than everything else. He decided it would be best to go wash his face. Maybe the cold water would help clear his mind a little.

          _Wash your face and stay calm,_ he said to himself, _then you can go back out. You can go back out and deal with..._

          Blue eyes and a warm smile suddenly flashed in front of his face, like some sort of huge warning.

          Keith snapped out of the thought suddenly, and his arm automatically jerked on the faucet of the sink. Water came rushing out.

          The tug was just a little too hard.

          The water was not rushing out like it was supposed to. It sprayed in his face, and made him sputter and choke. He pushed the handle back down, but the water wouldn’t stop. There was almost some sort of angry hissing sound as it continued.

It showed no sign of stopping at all.

          _Shit._

 

          Lance Mcclain liked parties.

          Maybe _liked_ was a bit of an understatement.

          Being the captain of the color guard at school, he got invited to many of them. The minute it was rumored someone was holding some sort of gathering, Lance was there. Just a bit of a dazzling smile, and maybe a sweetened promise or two, he usually would be in.

          The attention could be inconvenient at times, Lance admitted. There were times when all the people smiling and calling out his name at school felt like a little too much for him, and he had no room to himself. Still, he didn’t mind shining brightly every once in a while.

          He would prefer to be the most hated person at school, rather than be entirely invisible. And one of the best ways _not_ to ever be ignored, was to be neon-bright. One of the best places to be neon-bright, were parties.  This was the first time that he had been invited to a _college_ party, though, and Lance couldn’t say that he was disappointed.

          Allura had told him that it was meant to invite high school students to Garrison University, but there were no staff members in sight. Not that he was complaining.

          Besides being able to shine at parties, he liked the entire aura of them. This one was no different.

          He could practically taste the sun-like heat that burst through the air as people danced and yelled. The steady boom of the music vibrated from the floor, up his legs, and up to his shoulders. It sent shivers up his spine. Good, tingling shivers. There was just something that seemed to hang in the air, when there were so, so many people at one place, that seemed to spike his blood.

          Then, something else had spiked his blood even more.

          _Someone_ else.

          Keith Kogane.

          The only reason why Lance had signed up for the afterschool tutoring program was because of color guard. If he didn’t manage to pull his C- in math up to at least a B by the end of the month, he would be on probation. He couldn’t let that happen.

          When he had first heard his assigned tutor’s name, he had just been curious. He had never even heard of the name ‘Kogane’, at school. He had never caught a glimpse of the guy before.

          _Whatever,_ Lance had thought, _he’s just another stranger for me to charm. It’ll be fun_.

          Rushing in late for the very first meeting, papers flying above his head like pesky flies, that had not been the _best_ first impression, he had to grudgingly admit. Still, Lance thought and easy smile would win the guy over.

          It had never occurred to him, that if he had never heard of Keith Kogane, that the boy wouldn’t have heard of Lance Mcclain, either.

          It had sort of driven Lance insane, the entire session, that this strange boy, seemed to be completely immune to him. It was like he was an unfeeling robot, not noticing Lance’s radiant charms at all. It had gotten to the point when he had been desperate enough to slide in the sex question, the sex question usually at least brought a bit of a giggle or uncomfortable smile.

          Keith hadn’t smiled. _Was he even capable of smiling?_

          He had just stormed off, uncomfortable and obviously angry. Lance couldn’t remember the last time another kid at school had been actually _pissed_ at him like that.

          He didn’t understand why it hadn’t work.

          He also didn’t understand why he couldn’t stop thinking about the other boy.

          Lance had been excited for this party. He had been positive that the burst of excitement, the thrill of music and new people would be exactly that he needed to get this weird feeling out of his chest. It would get it out of his system in no time, and he would be back to himself. Screw Keith Kogane.

          Not that Lance Mcclain was _ever_ thinking about screwing Keith Kogane.

          Then of course, the guy just had to show up.

          When Lance had turned and seen Keith, the ripple of excitement through his skin had been unexplainable and very, very unwelcome. So had been the twinge of disappointment when he had ran off.

          “Oof,” Hunk let out a bit of a huff when Lance suddenly bumped into him. Lance shifted a bit away.

          “Sorry, dude.”

          “S’okay,” his best friend replied good-naturedly. Lance had only seen Hunk in a bad mood twice, and it had been sort of terrifying. Both of them looked over at the girl Allura and Shiro had left them with.

          Lance felt a slight pang of guilt settle in his stomach. He really hadn’t meant to misgender her. Just the thought of it had made him feel stupid, and a _serious_ asshole. He didn’t quite know how to apologize, though. She didn’t look like the sort of girl who could easily be apologized to.

          She wasn’t looking at them. Her large, rounded glasses were nearly lit up by her phone in her hands. Lance didn’t even _know_ why he had thought that she had been a boy at first. Her features were softer, and she had the widest, clearest eyes he had ever seen. Right now, though, her wide eyes were filled a bit with concern.

          “Hey...um...” Lance tried.

          “It’s Pidge,” her voice was curt, “it’s good to meet you, _girly_.”

          He flinched a little, “Alright, I deserved that. I’m sorry. You...look sort of worried. Is everything alright?”

          She let out a sigh, and put her phone in her jacket pocket.

          “It’s fine, it’s not like that was the first time I’ve been misgendered,” she was already starting to turn away from them, “Keith’s not answering his phone, even though he said he was just going to the bathroom. I’m worried about him, so I’ll see you guys later I guess.”

          Lance was already grabbing a confused Hunk’s arm.

          “We’ll come with you. I know around this place, I know where the bathroom is.”

          Pidge sent them a look over her shoulder, but she didn’t say anything. She let Lance lead the way.

         

          “So,” Hunk was the one who attempted to break the awkward tension as they slunk by other people, “Pidge.”

          “What?” her voice was still sharp. Lance wondered if that was how she normally sounded.

          “Are...are you and Keith, erm, close?”

          “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

          Even in the dark, Lance knew that the girl saw the look on his face. He was surprised when she actually let out a bit of a laugh. It was an easy, light sound, nothing like he had expected from her. Almost...sweet.

          “Quiznak,” she had the smallest smile on her face, “oh no, _definitely_ _not_ like _that_. The Kogane family has just been really close to mine, my older brother, dad, and Keith’s older brother have known each other for a really long time. Keith’s my best friend. He’s like a brother to me.”

          She paused for a moment, then let out half a shrug.

          “I’m not really into relationships, or _that_ sort of thing. Never was and never will be.”

          “Oh,” Lance did not understand why he suddenly felt a bit more cheerful, “alright then.”

          Pidge tilted her head slightly towards him, and Lance suddenly got the impression that he was being studied. As if he were a new specimen that she had never seen before, and wanted to observe more carefully under a microscope.

          “What about you? Are you just into girls?”

          “ _Me?_ ” Lance felt startled for a moment, “Well, I, uh, swing both ways. Love is just love to me, you know?”

          Pidge muttered something under her breath, and he was almost sure that she had said Keith’s name at one point. She looked sort of pleased, almost smug with herself.

          “Oh, the bathroom’s up here,” Hunk tugged lightly on the back of Lance’s shirt before he missed the turn. Surprisingly, it was empty around the bathroom. Even the music seemed to fade away, just a little bit. Underneath the crack at the bottom of the door, he could see just  a bit of light filtering out.

          “Whoa, nearly missed it,” he sent an appreciative look to Hunk, “thanks.”

          Hunk didn’t return the smile, but it was because he was too focused on something else.

          “It’s hard to tell over the music...” he sounded thoughtful, “...but...does it sound like someone’s yelling in there to you guys?”

          Lance strained his ears, and he realized that Hunk was right.  It was very faint, over all the loud ruckus of the party all around them, but he could hear someone’s voice. It sounded like they were banging into things as well, there were the sounds of thumps and thuds from behind the door.

          Pidge instantly tensed up, moving in front of both Lance and Hunk.

          “Keith?! You’ve been in there for a really long time, and you aren’t answering my texts,” her voice was definitely worried now, “Keith, it’s Pidge, I’m coming in.”

          There was another shout from behind the door, and Lance could recognize Keith’s voice. His shout almost sounded like a warning.

          “Pidge- “Lance started forward, but it was already too late. She had already turned the handle, and was pulling the unlocked door open.

          “Keith- “she started, but was never able to finish whatever she was about to say.

          Because, the moment Pidge opened the door, she was suddenly sprayed with a giant gust of water.

         

         


	5. Chapter 5

“What the...” it took Lance a moment to fully absorb what was happening.

          Keith Kogane was sort of staggering around, as if he had been shot in the chest. He was holding a sink faucet, though the little detached thing did little good against the giant gust of water that was gushing out of the sink. He was almost completely soaked, and Lance could see his ink-dark hair plastered to his cheeks, glistening in the bathroom light.

          “Keith! What- “Pidge broke off, nearly slipping on the water-covered floor. It splashed around Lance’s own feet, and he could feel the front of his own shirt wet already.

          Even the walls had drops of clear water clinging to them, and they almost seemed to be laughing at all of them, watching them flail and struggle. Lance raised an arm too slowly to try to block out the spurt of water in his direction, and found himself coughing when he was splashed in the face. The water made loud noises as it splashed out from the broken sink, and it almost sounded as if it was screaming at them.

          Hunk rushed over, bumping into the toilet on his way in, his hands desperately trying to cover the water. Despite him using both of his hands, it didn’t work at all.

          “Turn it off!” Hunk was yelling, his voice a couple of octaves higher than usual, “Turn it off! Turn it off!”

          “I’ve been _trying!_ ” Keith snapped back, although he sounded more frantic than irritated. He started to move forward, maybe to figure out a way to help hunk. His eyes were very wide, and the broken faucet gleamed in his hand.

          Lance found himself moving on his own accord, his hand moving out to snatch the faucet for him. Maybe, with some sort of blind luck, he would be able to wrench it back onto the spraying water, stop it, at least temporarily.

          He tried to move too fast.

          That was not a good idea when you were in a flooding bathroom.

          He slipped, water getting into his shoe when he was suddenly thrown forward by his own force. All Lance saw was Keith’s dark eyes widening for a mere moment before the two of them collided, painfully hard. Lance could hear Keith yelp more in surprise than pain as both of them went tumbling over together into the bathtub behind them. As they fell, Lance banged his hip on the side of the tub, and yelped out in pain. It was sore, and he guessed that it would probably leave a large bruise later.

          There was a loud thud as both of them landed inside, and Lance’s eyes widened when he saw that Keith was going to snap the back of his head against the hard surface. But...the sickening sound never came.

          Lance realized that he had moved without even thinking. His hand had wrapped around the back of Keith’s head to brace the other boy. He could feel the boy’s dark, wet hair curl softly around his fingers, almost as if the locks were trying to cling to him.

          Keith just seemed to realize it as well, and he blinked up at Lance in wide-eyed surprise. His eyes weren’t as dark as Lance thought they had been. There was a surprising amount of gentle, soft brown in them as well.

          Meanwhile, the sound of the water hissed, but then died away with a shudder.

          “Got it!” Pidge sounded triumphant. Lance heard something that sounded suspiciously like Pidge and Hunk high-fiving each other.

          A moment later, both of them peered over the bathtub. Hunk’s usual headband was dripping with water, droplets clinging to his skin as well. Pidge’s glasses had been completely sprayed, and hung sort of crookedly on just one half of her face. At some other time, Lance might’ve been impressed that they could still hang on.

          “Uh, thanks,” Lance said, although he hadn’t been the one to cause the major waterworks. _Cough, cough, Keith_.

          Pidge actually grinned down at them. Next to her, Hunk seemed like he was trying very hard not to laugh. Lance could tell from the way his eyes were crinkled slightly at the edges, like they always did whenever he was smiling.

Lance didn’t get what was so funny, and neither did Keith. He just blinked up, still a bit dazed from what had just happened. Pidge coughed for a moment, and he could’ve sworn that her glasses glinted, like the way they did in anime.

Then, she snickered.

          “Is it comfortable in there?”

          Keith seemed to realize the position they were in at the same time that Lance did. He shoved Lance up the same time Lance himself scrambled over the edge of the bathtub. He nearly fell back on top of him once again, the sides of the tub were incredibly slippery. He forced himself not to look at Keith, feeling his face start to burn a bit. He was probably sick or something. Maybe there had been something in the party drinks.

          Lance Mcclain did not _blush._

          He was the one who _made_ people blush.

          And he most certainly did not blush because of people like _Keith Kogane._

          “What even happened?” Pidge reached to pull Keith out, once Lance had managed to get out of the tub. The boy grasped her hand, enveloping it entirely in his own, getting out.

          “I... I don’t really know,” Keith still sounded a bit dazed, and stared down at the broken faucet in one of his hands, “I just went to go wash my hands, and it just...well...came lose.”

          “Yikes,” Lance let out a low whistle, “Allura is not going to be happy about this.”

          “I didn’t mean to break it,” Keith really did sound sorry, and it made him seem much younger than he really as. He seemed to shrink into himself a little, his shoulders hunching in, almost as if he expected to be yelled at.

          There was a moment of quiet. The sink was still dripping a little, but the sound of the water just faded into background noise. Lance couldn’t hear it at all. Like it wasn’t even there.

          Pidge was the first one who moved to go comfort him. At first, Lance had just thought that Keith, taller and stronger, was the one who constantly supported her. Now, seeing them together like this, he saw that that wasn’t true at all. Both of them supported one another, when they needed to. Pidge just had her small hand on Keith’s elbow, but it seemed to be the only thing that was holding him up. Like without her there, he might fall down.

          “I’m sorry,” Keith’s voice was very soft, almost like a ghost, “I make a mess of everything.”

          “Nah,” Pidge was trying for lightness, and she didn’t look at Lance or Hunk, “things happen. Here, I’ll help you go find Allura, and we can explain what happened.”

          Lance started forward, opening his mouth to say that he would go with them, but suddenly stopped short at the look Pidge sent him. It was soft, but it was also very, very clear.

          _We’ve got this._

There was nothing he could do but watch, his clothes still dripping sink water, as she led Keith away. Neither of them looked back once. Lance curled his toes a bit in his shoes, and he realized that there was water in his socks as well.

 

          Keith had decided on a simple solution the next day when he woke up.

          There was nothing that could be done about what had already happened. At least Allura hadn’t seemed too upset about it, and Shiro had been glad that everyone had been alright. The only thing that Keith really could do was _prevent_ things like this from happening once again.

          The solution consisted of two simple things.

Step one: never going to another party as long as he breathed air.

Step two: never think about Lance Mcclain.

Keith had to admit to himself that the second step was going to be far, far more difficult than it was just said, but he would have to make due. It wasn’t like it would be completely impossible.

With his new solution in his mind, Keith thought that his heart felt lighter...

Alright, not really, but at least he really did get out of bed for school.

His hair had still been sort of damp yesterday when he had gone to sleep, and now it just sort of stuck up at odd angles. Keith pushed down hard with his comb, desperately willing it to stay down.

It did not stay down.

He huffed slightly, not even sure why he was so irritated with his hair. Why did he even care how he looked right then? It was just school.

 _School with Lance Mcclain_.

_Lance with his bright smile and easy personality. Lance with his light laugh and loose mouth. Lance with his blue eyes..._

Keith smacked himself on the cheek, hard. He was not going to allow himself to fail at step two of his perfect solution.

He sharply reminded himself of it, straightening up in front of the mirror. His own, dark eyes stared back at him, as piercing as they always had been. Since he had been little, he had been told that his stare sometimes could make people feel a little...uncomfortable.

Keith sucked in a sharp breath, then grabbed his backpack before heading out of his small room. As he did so, he filled his mind with thoughts to occupy it. Thoughts about anything. Anything at all, except for _him._

 _I get to ride my motorcycle to school,_ he reminded himself brightly, _that’s always fun. After school, I’ll probably have another race with Shiro or something, maybe I’ll go hang out and play CL with Pidge. We still have to defeat the boss monster._

 _No,_ his own mind suddenly betrayed him, _the first thing you have to do after school is tutor. And your student is..._

Keith slapped himself once again for good measure.

Shiro blinked at him from the kitchen, where he was filling up a cup of coffee.

“Uh, are you alright?”

“Fine,” Keith kept his tone as casual as he could, “why aren’t you at the University yet? I thought that you had morning classes today, shouldn’t you be gone with Matt?”

Shiro shrugged a little, but he didn’t look Keith in the eyes.

Shiro _always_ looked Keith in the eyes when they were speaking.

“I can always make up the classes tomorrow,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee, “and besides, I thought that I could drive you to school today.”

Keith found himself growing more and more concerned. Still, if Shiro was keeping casual like this, Keith was going to as well.

“...alright, I guess,” he said, leaning against the doorway, “but why the sudden want for brotherly bonding? Is this about the last pop tart?”

Shiro managed a flicker of a smile at Keith’s weak attempt for a joke. But, there wasn’t even a chuckle from him. Shiro laughed so easily, he smiled even when things were far too rough. The fact that he wasn’t laughing right now seemed to make things even worse.

“I was sort of angry about that. But, no, that’s not what I wanted you to talk about.”

His older brother swung his keys around one of his fingers, already heading out the door.

“Come on, you don’t want to be late.”

There was nothing Keith could do but just follow him out. Now, his mind was definitely occupied with something besides Lance Mcclain.

But right then, he would’ve given up his perfect solution, rather than face whatever storm was about to be thrown at him. Anything would’ve been better than this right now.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

“Keith, you can’t just _not go to college_ ,” it was painfully obvious that Shiro was doing his best not the raise his voice.

“Education isn’t the _fucking_ world, Shiro,” he shot back, “if it was, you’d be a millionaire right now. We wouldn’t be worrying if we’re able to _pay rent_ for the next year.”

“You’re sixteen, Keith,” he hated it when his older brother spoke to him like he was a toddler, incapable of understanding anything, “you shouldn’t be worrying about this sort of stuff. You can leave that to me. You know that I can deal with it.”

“That’s the thing! You _shouldn’t have to_ deal with it _alone!_ ” Keith couldn’t help it, he didn’t even quite understand why he was so angry. He wasn’t sure if he was angry at Shiro, for thinking that he had to carry all this burden on his own. He wasn’t sure if he was just angry at himself, for not being older. For not making his older brother understand that _he could help him_.

The car jolted to a stop. During the entire ride, Shiro had been driving a little too fast. The turns had been cutting, and the vehicle had jerked and stuttered over more bumps that Keith thought was possible. Shiro turned now, looking at Keith as if he was seeing for the first time. Like he was seeing a stranger.

“You know...” all of the fight had left his voice, and Keith could hear the weariness lacing the edges of his tone. The dark circles from late nights working or worrying about college exams seemed more pronounced than ever underneath his eyes.

There was quiet for a moment, as Shiro looked for the right words, and Keith just wondered why their lives were just so _fucked up_.

His eyes trailed toward his older brother’s prosthetic arm, the hard, glinting metal of it trailing up to his black t-shirt. He remembered when he was too little to understand the bad parts of the world, and how cool he had thought Shiro’s arm looked. Like he was some sort of superhero.

It was only a few years later did Keith truly realize that Shiro had lost his arm in the accident. In the accident that had taken their parents from them. The accident that had left them in this giant mess. With no way to get out.

Shiro sighed before continuing. Keith could see the hint of thin, silvery scars that curled up from underneath the collar from his shirt. From the side of his prosthetic arm. His older brother had never taken off his shirt in front of Keith. Not once, in their entire lives. It was like he thought hiding the damage on his own body would make everything a bit better.

The thing Shiro didn’t know was, _nothing_ could make what had happened to them better. Keith didn’t know why Shiro just couldn’t admit it to himself.

“You know,” Shiro repeated, his head slightly bowed, “you’re just as stubborn as mom used to be. I remembered when she would have these giant fights with dad, and how she wouldn’t stop until he gave up.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Keith knew that it wasn’t fair, that it wasn’t fair to his parents, or to Shiro, but he let the words out anyways, “she wasn’t around to raise me.”

He continued on, throwing the car door open before Shiro could reply to that. He couldn’t look back at him. He knew if he did, he would see the burning hurt in his dark eyes, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to bear it.

“Who knows where we would be, if they had stayed,” Keith’s voice was quiet.

Shiro had started to snap out of his stupor, started to say something about their parents not having a choice.

Keith didn’t stick around to listen to it.

 

“Oops,” Lance didn’t sound apologetic at all as Keith circled his mistake in the equations, “missed that one I supposed.”

Keith kept his eyes on his red pen and the worksheet, though his voice was dry, “just like how you _missed_ the last six?”

There was a creaking sound that told Keith that Lance was leaning back in his chair, stretching out like a wild cat basking out in warm sunlight.

“Basically.”

“Why don’t you apply yourself more?” Keith did the best he could to keep himself patient, although he could already hear the dangerous edge in his voice, “it’s not like you’re stupid you know? You just...just never try.”

The other body gave a bit of a short squeal, “did you just call me _not_ stupid?”

Keith groaned, and dropped both his pen and the worksheet. They had hardly made any progress at all. For the past thirty minutes, Lance had just been going on and on about color practice, and the ‘hot babes’ that came to check him out during it. He was no closer to understanding exponential functions or slope-intercept forms.

He knew that when you were tutoring someone, you had to be patient. You couldn’t get them to understand things the first time around. Still, this was getting ridiculous. And, Keith had never been a very patient person.

“Ugh,” Keith nearly jumped when Lance spoke, and was sort of surprised to hear the boy actually sound kind of tired himself, “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just not getting it.”

Keith let out a breath, blowing some of his dark hair out of his eyes. Shiro had told him a few days ago that he needed a haircut, but as much as Keith loved his older brother, he was not trusting him _anywhere_ near his hair with scissors.

“What do you not get?”

Lance put his elbows on the library table, propping his head up on his curved hands. He leaned in closer to Keith, and the brilliant blue hues of his eyes were very, very clear. There was teasing laughter in his voice.

“I don’t get why you haven’t kissed me yet.”

That was the last straw.

Keith knew that Lance Mcclain was expecting some sort of reaction from him. He expected him to go tomato red, look away, maybe hide behind one of the books.

But the thing was, all the embarrassment, maybe even flattery that Keith would’ve felt on the first few days was gone. Right now, all Keith felt was this rage that swelled up inside of his chest.

It wasn’t even rage directed to Lance.

It was just sort of rage at...well, _everything_. Rage at the world for tossing him and his brother into this horrible situation.

His chair screeched harshly against the floor, and a couple of papers actually fell to the ground around him. Lance blinked at him for a moment, the smirk disappearing off his face when he realized just how angry Keith actually was. When he realized that Keith wasn’t going to take his jokes anymore.

“I don’t care what the principal says,” Keith hadn’t ever heard his own voice so cold before, “I’m fucking _done_.”

He snapped around sharply on his heels, and went out the door.

 

          Shiro had driven him to school today, but he hadn’t come to pick him up yet. Keith should’ve called him, but he didn’t feel like dealing with his older brother just yet, with this morning’s fight still fresh on their skin.

          He started to walk, and listened to the sound of his own, angry feet against the cement sidewalks.

          He had only been walking for a moment when something else joined his footsteps. Another set of feet, slamming against the ground, and there was panting breath as someone ran.

          “Kogane!” he was out of breath, gasping for air, “Kogane! _Keith!_ Keith wait!”

          _Keep moving_ , he told himself, _keep walking_.

          His wretched feet arrested themselves, gluing him down to the ground. Keith didn’t turn around. Lance had stopped running, Keith could tell from the stillness around them.

          “I know that you’re usually in a bad mood,” he said, and his voice actually sounded a bit nervous, “I mean, you’re constantly like this bad-mannered cat who got their tail stuck in a washing machine or something.”

          “Is that _seriously_ what you ran out here to tell me?” Keith’s hands curled at his side.

          “Shit, I’m bad at this sort of thing,” Lance’s voice was almost awkward, “look...it’s just...I know I’m not the easiest student. But...you’re usually actually pretty patient. I mean, you yell at me, and you tell me how dumb I’m being. Still, you...you put up with my jokes and everything. Most tutors wouldn’t.”

          Keith did turn around to look at him now, though he didn’t move any closer. Lance shoved his hands into the pockets of his blue hoodie, as if to keep them from shaking. His face was slightly uncomfortable.

          “You’re not usually like this,” Lance said, “what’s...what’s wrong?”

          “It’s just,” Keith ran a frustrated hand through his own, messy, dark hair, “ _you._ You’ve got so much opportunity. You’re popular at school, you’ve got parents who can afford a good college for you. And the thing is, you don’t even seem to _realize_ how much you have! You can’t even apply yourself to pass a couple of simple, _damn math tests!_ You can continue studying, and you don’t have to worry about where you’re going to stay next month, or if you’ll have food on your plate.”

          “And you don’t even care, you’re _lazy_ ,” the words were spilling over like blood from a fresh wound, and Keith felt the hot tears at the corners of his eyes, “ _Do you understand what it’s like to have nothing?! To know that there’s not enough money to send you to college?!! To know your parents left you NOTHING?!?!”_

His last word seemed to echo all around himself. He could taste the tinge of salt in his mouth. It was only then did he realize that the hot tears were dripping off his cheeks.

          Lance looked like Keith had just shot him through the chest. His blue eyes were very, very wide. Most of the blood had drained away from his face.

          And yet, he started forward to Keith.

          “Keith...”

          Keith staggered backwards for a moment, his head spinning. He was burning up of shame. None of this was Lance’s fault, and now he had just _exploded_ all over him.

          “I...” the words caught in his throat.

          He whirled away, the tears still streaming from his eyes, blurring the world around him. And Keith did the only thing that he knew how to do, when his walls came down. He ran.

          He veered off of the sidewalk, darting into the thick woods behind the school, ignoring the dark shadows that seemed to close in on him. His feet thudded hard against the ground, and he ignored that sound of Lance’s yells of alarm, calling to him. He couldn’t face him.

          There was the rustle of three branches and bushes that had been kicked from behind him.

          _No way_.

          Was the idiot actually _going after_ him?

          Keith forced his legs to move faster, although his lungs were crying out for him to stop. He scrubbed angrily at his face, angry at the mess he had let himself become. Long branches scratched at his arms and his cheeks, and he could feel the well of blood on his skin.

          _Why couldn’t he just leave him alone?_

“Keith, wait!!” Lance’s slender, lanky figure appeared in a distance, rushing forward at him.

          “ _What the hell are you doing?!_ ” Keith’s feet stumbled awkwardly from under him, “Go away!”

          Lance was faster than he was, catching up in a moment. _Damn_ his stupid, athletic, long legs.

          Keith shifted his weight, startled for a moment. Lance’s breath hitched, but he never got to say what he was going to say.

          The ground from under their feet suddenly crumbled, and there was empty air. Keith’s hands splayed out, staggering for some sort of balance, scrabbling out. There was nothing to grab onto.

          Keith wasn’t sure if it was Lance or himself who was screaming as they both tumbled into the deep trench under them.


	7. Chapter 7

Lance wished that he could say the first thing that popped into his head was something deep and meaningful. Maybe some sort of epic quote about angels falling or an interesting idea about how falling could be endless, and time stood still.

          The first thing that actually popped into his mind was _fuck_.

          When he hit the ground, the single fuck became _fuckity, fucky, fuck._

          A twinge of pain shot up his left ankle, flaring up like invisible fire and smoke. He bit back a whimper, managing to roll over on his back and use his hands to sit up.

          “Lance? Lance?” Keith’s voice sounded distant, “Are you alright?!”

          “I’m just peachy,” Lance croaked, his throat felt raw from yelling when they had fallen into the trench. Or a ditch, Lance didn’t know the difference. He didn’t care either, since it was sort of hard to focus on anything but extreme pain.

          There was shifting as Keith pretty much crawled over to him, and Lance could see that he hadn’t been the only one to get scratched up during the tumble.

          Keith’s hair was a mess, and there was a bruise on his cheek. The dirt stood out, even on his black shirt, and his jeans had ripped at both knees. His pale arms had been scratched up as well, angry red lines snaking around his skin.

          The other boy looked horrified when he saw Lance’s foot.

          Lance glanced down as well, and sucked in a sharp breath.

          He was ninety-nine percent sure that his left foot was _not_ supposed to turn that way.

          Seeing the full damage made it seem to hurt even more than before. He couldn’t resist letting out a soft gasp, the invisible fire under his skin had definitely grown bigger now.

          “Well that’s new,” he managed to choke out. Talking was good. Talking distracted him from the pain.

          “Oh- oh my gods,” most of the blood had drained away from Keith’s face, and some of the bruises on his skin were starting to darken, as if they were just settling in.

          “I think I can feel my ankle bones or whatever, in my actual leg,” Lance offered helpfully. It was sort of hard to keep his tone light. He would rise to that challenge.

          “It’s broken,” Keith pointed out, king of the obvious. He pulled off Lance’s shoe gingerly, the skin at the break was already starting to swell up.

          _You can’t feel it_ , Lance told himself, _it’s not even there. You’ve got a peg leg. You’d make a pretty epic pirate, actually_.

          “I’d make a pretty cool pirate,” he accidentally said out loud.

          Keith tore off a strip from his shirt, not seeming to hear him. Either that or he just ignored it. He gently touched the ankle. Lance couldn’t stop himself from jerking away, a yelp of pain escaping his lips.

          The other boy winced at the sound, but he managed to set Lance’s broken ankle on his own lap. He started to wrap the cloth around it, his eyes cast down as he focused on the task.

          “I’m sorry,” his voice was quiet, “about everything.”

          Lance got a hunch that his eyes were also cast down, because he didn’t want to look at him.

          Keith’s hands were surprisingly gentle. They worked carefully, his fingers were graceful.

          “Nah,” Lance tried to lighten to mood a bit, “I’m sorry. I... I admit I was sort of being an ass. You were trying to teach me, and I just sort of took that for granted.”

          Keith let out a breath between his teeth, securing the bit of cloth, “This...this is...the best I can do. I... I don’t know how to set it or anything.”

          Both of them looked up. The walls of the trench rose up in front of them. The dirt and mud was mockingly smooth, and it seemed to go on forever. There was no way Keith could climb out, much less Lance with his damn ankle.

          Lance pulled his phone out of his pocket. A thick, diagonal crack was visible, like a bolt of lightning through the black screen. Definitely broken. More variations of colorful words filled his head.

          He could only watch as Keith got out his own phone. He shook it once, his face hopeful.

          Then, his face fell, and he pulled his arm back, hurling his phone out of the trench completely. Lance turned his head to follow it as it soared. Then, he turned back to Keith, and incredulous look on his face.

          Keith’s cheeks tinted with a bit of red, when he saw Lance’s look.

          “It was dead. No good.”

          “ _Still_ ,” Lance said, “that was a little extreme. Scratch out the little.”

          “Let me see your ankle again,” the boy said quickly. There was obvious concern in it.

          Lance felt strangle touched by it.

          He found himself staring at Keith’s face, so close that he was able to take in all of the tiny details.

          His eyes were lighter than Lance had thought they were, light flecks of brown like little stars around his pupils. His lashes were long enough to cast faint shadows at the top of his cheeks. He was pale, but there was a light rose flush to his cheeks that Lance thought looked sort of cute. Lance could imagine Keith punching anyone in the face who dared to call him cute.

          His shoulders were smaller than Lance’s own, set tightly with nervousness.

His hair was the color of spilt ink, curling in soft waves around his faces, making him look younger than he really was. Lance resisted the urge to run a hand through it, just to see if it was really as silky as he thought it was.

His eyes caught on something. A bit of Keith’s hair near his forehead seemed to be damp.

“Oh...”

“What?” Keith’s voice was tight, “did your foot get worse?”

“No, I’m fine,” his hand seemed to automatically reach out, brushing aside some of Keith’s hair, “but...you’re not. You’re bleeding.”

“It doesn’t hurt,” Keith shifted away from Lance’s hand so that his hair fell over the cut once again.

“You already helped me with my leg. Just let me see it,” Lance caught Keith’s cheek in one hand, using the other to lift up his hair again. Keith’s face flushed a bright red, but he didn’t move.

“It...it...really doesn’t hurt,” the boy softly protested.

“We need something to stop the bleeding.”

Lance thought that Keith’s hands might’ve been shaking softly when he tore another piece from his dirty shirt. He tried to press it against the long cut, but then yelped in pain.

“Let me see that,” he didn’t wait for him to reply, grabbing the bit of cloth from his hand, “you’re going to make it worse.”

Keith, surprisingly, stayed still as Lance mopped up the blood. Lance could feel a little burst of relief in his chest when he saw that it was smaller than he actually had thought it had been at first.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them, and Lance couldn’t even hear branches rustling or birds chirping, like there should’ve been in the forest. It was like it was just the two of them in the world.

Lance found that he really didn’t mind, if it was just him and Keith Kogane in the world.

“I’m sorry,” Keith said again, breaking the quiet.

“Stop apologizing,” Lance shot back. It looked like the cut was starting to clot, a scab starting to build. He took it as a good sign.

“I shouldn’t have taken all my anger out on you like that,” Keith seemed to not had heard Lance, “it’s not fair to you.”

“I just told you to stop apologizing,” Lance repeated. He couldn’t stand it when people looked so sad. There was a different sort of sad when it came to Keith Kogane. He didn’t only look sorrowful, but...

Sort of like he was lost, as well.

“Why don’t you explain to me how arithmetic sequences work?” he changed the subject before they could fall back into an awkward silence. Awkward silences were agonizingly horrible.

Keith raised thick, dark eyebrows at him.

“What, like, _right now?_ ”

          Lance nodded. The pain in his left ankle throbbed annoyingly, but he ignored it. He refused to focus on it.

          “ _Now_ you want to concentrate on math?” Keith rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of a smile on his face.

          The other boy looked surprisingly nice when he wasn’t scowling at Lance.

          “Arithmetic sequences are pretty simple actually,” Keith went on, and he did seem sort of glad to have something else to talk about, “they’re basically patterns.”

          He paused, as if to check that Lance was still with him.

          “Patterns,” Lance offered, “I can do patterns.”

          “They’re a sequence of numbers that could essentially go on forever, you just have to add a common difference to them to get the next term.”

          “Common...difference?” Lance echoed. He suddenly felt rather stupid. It was one of the main reasons why he had been slightly nervous about entering the afterschool tutoring program in the first place. The last thing he needed was a smartass making him feel dumber than he already did.

          Keith was patient, though.

          “Like, the same number you add over and over again,” he explained, “uh, maybe it’s easier with an example. With the arithmetic sequence three, six, and nine, the common difference is three.”

          “Oh,” Lance blinked, “because you’re adding three to the term each time?”

          “Right,” Keith’s faint smile grew a little bigger, and Lance felt weird flutters in his stomach, “it works for negative numbers as well. Like ten, five, zero, negative five.”

          “So, the common difference would be negative five?”

          “Yep,” Keith put a hand to the cut on his head, almost absentmindedly, “let’s try something. The common difference of a sequence is two. The first term is two.”

          Lance tilted his head, confused.

          “Count with me,” the other boy explained kindly, “what’s the next term?”

          “Four?”

          “Then six.”

          “Eight.”

          “Ten.”

          “Twelve.”

          There was something oddly comforting about just counting like this, replying back and forth with nothing but numbers. The repetition of it was soothing, like a tide washing on a beach, pulling away, then coming back.

          “Fourteen.”

          “Sixteen.”

          “Eighteen.”

          Lance was faintly aware of the fact that he was starting to lean in closer to Keith with every new term he said. He thought that the other boy might’ve been leaning in towards him as well, just slightly. Keith’s breath was warm on his face. The other boy smelled of leather and lilies. It was a weird combination, and Lance didn’t understand why he liked it so much.

          “Twenty.”

          “Twenty-two.”

          “Twenty-four.”

          They seemed to be counting in time to Lance’s heartbeat. It thudded so loudly in his ears it was starting to get hard to hear himself count.

          “Twenty-six.”

          “Twenty-eight.”

          “Thirty...”

          Lance leaned in even closer now. Keith’s eyes fluttered shut, and Lance thought he could feel his long lashes brush against his face, as gentle as the wings of a butterfly.

          There was a hitch in Keith’s even breaths.

          “KEITH?! KEITH! LANCE?!” a booming voice suddenly cut through.

          Both Keith and Lance reared away from each other quickly. Keith’s eyes were wide open, the recognition was clear on his face. He turned up towards the opening of the trench.

          “Shiro?! SHIRO! We’re down here!”

          Lance could hear the sound of rushing footsteps, a twig snapping underneath someone’s heavy foot as they ran towards Keith’s voice. A minute later, Lance saw a familiar face appear over the edge.

          “Shiro!” Keith called up, “Shiro!”

          “What happened?!” his older brother yelled down, although the relief was clear on his face.

          “We were just walking!” Lance heard himself say, “the ground gave out from underneath us!”

          “Lance broke his ankle during the fall!”

          “And Keith cut his head during the fall,” Lance shot back.

          Another face came into view next to Shiro. Lance had never been so happy to see that orange headband in his life.

          “Hey, Hunk!”

          “We’re with police and medics!” his best friend called down to them, “hold on, their getting some rope!”

          “What took you guys so long?!” Lance couldn’t help but grin.

          He turned to Keith, and the two of them smiled shyly. The stupid flutters were back in his stomach, and Lance wondered if they would go away if he stabbed himself in the gut.

          Suddenly, he wasn’t in such a big hurry to get away from Kogane.

         


	8. Chapter 8

So, Lance Mcclain would soon discover that having a broken leg and ankle did have its perks.

          Keith had asked him not to tell anyone about what had really happened, and Lance would keep that promise. Still, that didn’t stop him from spinning a particularly interesting story whenever people asked him about it.

          Teachers seemed just a little nicer around him, not that they had been very mean to him before. But a few of them had even brought in pillows that he could rest his ankle on whenever he was sitting down.

          The pretty girls, and guys, all wanted to sign his cast. Some of the pretty guys were kind enough to help him with his books and his bag. That _definitely_ wasn’t so bad.

          But, walking with crutches _sucked._

And so did the fact that he couldn’t go to practice for color guard.

          “You’re not off the team,” the coach had told him, trying for an encouraging smile, “ _quiznak_ , definitely not. You’re one of the best we’ve got! But...it would be good to take a bit of a break. You don’t want to hurt yourself even more before your ankle heals up.”

          The thing was, Lance didn’t _want_ to take a bit of a break.

          Tossing the banners and flags into the air, watching them spin as he twisted to catch them at the exact moments, it was one of the most amazing things. It was a way for him to relieve some of his stress, a time when he didn’t have to think about anything else at all.

          All he had to do was let himself fly.

          With nothing but the flags whipping around him, his feet feeling as if they were dancing on air over and over again, he felt like he was free.

          And now, he was stuck on the ground.

          Because of his _damn, stupid_ ankle.

          “Earth the Lance! HELLO?!” he jumped when he realized that Hunk was yelling in his ear.

          “What?! What is it?!” he yelped, knocking into his best friend’s elbow. Popcorn spilled all over both of their laps, a couple pieces immediately rolling off to the ground.

          Hunk’s brow furrowed, and his tone was expressionless, “Well, I _was_ asking you if you wanted any popcorn.”

          He looked over into the bag, which now only had a few pieces left, “but never mind, I guess.”

          “Sorry, dude,” Lance said sheepishly, then picked a few pieces off his blue jeans and popped them into his mouth. The salt and butter lingered in his mouth even after he had swallowed.

          “I guess I’ve just been sort of distracted, lately,” he offered with a weak smile.

          “Hey, _you_ were the one who _wanted_ to come to this game in the first place,” Hunk shot back, although there was nothing harsh in his voice, “and here I was thinking that I finally wouldn’t have to go to one of these things. Since you’re taking a break from color guard and everything.”

          “Yeah,” he looked at his cast, covered with flourishing signatures like small tattoos, “because I wanted to take a break from it.”

          “Hey,” Hunk looked slightly alarmed, “I didn’t mean it like- “

          “It’s fine,” Lance slung an arm over Hunk’s broad shoulders, grinning, “I know what you meant. Now quiet, the game’s going to start at any moment, and I want to see pretty Will Thompson play.”

          “The football captain?” Hunk looked confused, “I thought you liked Nyma, that girl from your history class.”

          “I _do_ like Nyma,” he agreed, “but I also like Thompson.”

          Just as Hunk started to roll his eyes, another voice jumped in, and Lance could hear the clear smirk in it.

          “Hm? What about Keith then?” Pidge Holt said, leaning over from Hunk’s other side.

          Both of the boys yelled in surprise, Lance nearly jumping into Hunk’s arms. More popcorn went flying.

          She blinked her wide, hazel-toned eyes at them, brushing some of the food off of her shoulders, “Am I really that scary? Heh, that could be sort of fun.”

          “W-where...did you come from?!” Lance sputtered for a moment.

          “I just got here with Shiro, Keith’s brother, but then I lost him,” she shrugged, folding her arms across her chest, “and there were no more empty seats but the one up here.”

          “You don’t seem like the type to come to school football games,” Hunk’s voice was genuinely curious, but then he quickly added, “not that I’m making any, like, assumptions or anything.”

          “Don’t worry,” Pidge sent Lance a dry stare, “someone’s already made the worse possible assumption.”

          “I already said that I was sorry!”

          “Whatever,” she turned back to face the giant field in front of them, “and you’re right. I usually don’t come to these games. This is just a special case.”

          “What do you mean?” Hunk asked good-naturedly, as friendly as ever.

          “I’m here for moral support.”

          Lance suddenly felt a bit suspicious, “Moral support for...who, exactly?”

          She looked at them, and her eyes gleamed behind her large glasses. It reminded Lance a bit of a mad scientist, like he and Hunk were new specimens that this girl couldn’t wait and experiment on. He resisted the urge to squirm.

          “...you’ll see. Soon enough.”

          She didn’t offer any more information.

          Then, all Lance could concentrate on were those few words. Curiosity and nervousness churned inside of his gut, making it impossible for him to concentrate.

          Even when the school color guard came out for the open ceremony, he wasn’t able to cheer or really focus on the routine at all. He just kept on turning Pidge’s words over in his head, trying to figure them out.

          _What the hell did she mean?_

Then, the team, decked out in black-and-white uniforms, came charging out. There, at the head of it was Will Thompson, with his pretty forest-green eyes. Some of his golden curls poked out from underneath his helmet.The other team was dressed in purple and white, and on the other side of the field, stands filled with flags of their colors waved proudly. When the two team captains passed each over, Lance could see an almost-dangerous glint in Will Thompson’s bright eyes.

          Lance’s eyes were only on the Voltron captain for a moment, though, because a familiar figure caught his attention.

          It was hard to tell, but there was pale skin and narrowed eyes. A sort of uncomfortableness with the football field, like it was his very first time out.

          And, under the rounded helmet, Lance could see the slightest hint of a _horrible_ , night-dark mullet.

          _No way._

 _No fricking way_.

          Lance must’ve made a mistake, maybe the sun was in his eyes or something. That was the only reasonable explanation that he could come up with. There was no possible way that...

          Hunk was the one who voiced it.

          “Is that...is that... _Keith Kogane?_ ”

          “One of the players, Matthew Robe I think,” Pidge explained, “got hurt during practice last minute. Keith’s filling in for him.”

          “But _why?_ ” Lance felt himself start to sputter again. Keith had been pulled aside by Will, who looked as if he was trying to explain something overly complex to a two-year-old.

          “Does he even know how to _play?_ ” Lance went on, looking down at the field. For some reason that he couldn’t explain, he suddenly felt anxious. Anxious for the other boy.

          “Actually, yeah,” the girl sounded surprised herself as she spoke, like she didn’t believe her own words, “he went to the tryouts at the beginning of the year because Shiro pretty much forced him to go. But, he refused to join the team, even after he made it. He claims that it’d just be a waste of his time.”

          “If he doesn’t like it,” Hunk blinked, his lost popcorn pretty much forgotten now, “then why’s he filling in this time?”

          Pidge sounded as if she was trying very hard not to laugh, “Same reason he joined the afterschool tutoring program, where he met Lance. It’s part of the agreement he has with the principal, that he would fill in for football. He’ll be suspended if he doesn’t follow the agreements.”

          “I didn’t think that Kogane really cared about that sort of thing,” Lance said, his voice tentative. He had to remember that this was Keith’s best friend he was talking to right now. And he was almost willing to bet that she knew how to kill someone with a spoon.

          She didn’t seem to notice.

          “He doesn’t,” she nodded slightly, “but what he _does_ care about is Shiro. And Shiro cares about him going to school.”

          By the time everyone was in position for the field, Lance could tell that the entire Voltron team was feeling rather nervous. _Of course_ , they were nervous. They had a new person on the team, one that had never before played out on the field. A new person who had no idea how the team worked together to score.

          “Keith looks like he’s about to be sick,” Hunk noted.

          “That would make this game much more interesting,” Pidge said casually. Lance could tell from the flicker of her movements that she was worried for her best friend, though.

          “What can we do?” Hunk was concerned, the ever-kind teddy bear that he was.

          “We can’t do anything out on the field to help him now,” Pidge said, “only what I’m here to do anyways: be here for moral support.”

          Before either boy could reply to that, the whistle of the referee pierced through the air, like a battle cry. The football was high up in the air, and the game had begun.

          For a moment, Lance lost track of Keith. He didn’t remember the number that had been on the boy’s jersey, and everyone was moving so fast. Flashes of purple and black spun past each other, the cheering from the stands seeming to edge them on faster. Lance knew that somewhere in the mix was Keith, probably desperately trying to figure out which way he was supposed to go. Although Lance narrowed his eyes, trying to single him out, he couldn’t find him.

          _Why are you so worried about him anyways?_ He tried to shake his own nervousness off. _It’s not like he’s going to die in this game or anything. Besides, you’re not even really friends with the guy._

          There were harsh grunts and growls when players were tackled, and the football was being passed around the field as if it was on fire. Will Thompson caught it when it hurled towards the ground, his feet sliding hard against the grass.

          His team was there with him, but so was the other team. There were nervous murmurs from the audience when Will went down under a pile of strong bodies. The rest of the Voltron team spread out, some of the people running backwards.

          It only took a moment for Will to break through the tackle, but he was still too far away from the touchdown lines. There was no way he would be able to make it without losing the ball to the other team. Lance knew that the captain knew that.

          With a burst of strength, the captain pulled his arm back, and let the ball go in the air. It flew over the heads of both the teams, and Lance followed it with his eyes, along with the rest of the audience.

          It sailed, spiraling, right towards Keith Kogane.

         


	9. Goodbye

Hi, first of all, I'd like to thank everyone who has supported this work, but I have decided to discontinue it.

A lot of people (not all, because there are extremely nice and good people around here!!) in this fandom have made it extremely toxic. A fandom is supposed to be full of new friends and fun, a place where you can just talk about the entertainment freely _._

Lately, it's just been terrible.

From the whole "OMG BEX LIKED THIS ONE SHEITH POST"

to "IM GOING TO THREATEN THE HARDWORKING PEOPLE BEHIND THIS SHOW UNTIL KLANCE IS CANON"

to the usual "no straight ships" and "shaladin" shit.

I really did like working on this fanfic, because I really did like Klance, but every time I try to write more of it, I just grow more and more ashamed that I'm part of this fandom. Considering the fact the show has basically been ruined for me, I don't think I'm in the fandom at all anymore. I'd like not to be. Maybe one day, the fandom will be a bit better, more friendlier and non judgemental. Maybe then I will re-open this work.

Thank you for the support

Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> Although this is not my first ever fanfic, this is my first voltron one, and my first one on archive, so please be patient with me! Thank you!


End file.
